Applying strip materials between liner and median in a corrugating process is known in the art, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,837. Strip materials include various liner reinforcements and opening tapes that are also known in the art. Exemplary reinforcements and opening tapes are marketed under the trade names String King®, Sesame®, Open Sesame®, and Cutting Edge®.
These strip materials are commonly applied between the substrates using systems similar to those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,255,255 and 8,640,982, which are incorporated herein by reference. Exemplary strip material guide systems are marketed under the trade names Intellibeam® and Quik Adjust Beam®.
However, known systems have shortcomings when starting strip materials for a production run. Conventional methods for starting strip material require that the processing machine be stopped while the strip material is manually attached to the substrate, or require the strip material be tossed into a nip point by an operator while the machine is running. Stopping the machine to start the strip material results in downtime and board waste. Not stopping the machine has the safety risk inherent in having an operator's hand and limb near a running substrate or nip point while tossing the strip material into the machine.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for starting a strip material in a substrate processing machine that can be accomplished without stopping the machine and without having an operator reach into the machine to start the tapes.